What's more beautiful than a work in progress?

The Mental Diet | Watching What You Think

I’ve been on a new diet and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever done before. It’s something that’s been much needed because honestly my previous diet was filled with a lot of trash with no nutritional value. It’s called a mental diet.

I’m on a mental diet where I’m consciously watching what I think by looking at my mental intakes. Basically, the information I consume on a daily basis dictates my thoughts, therefore watching and limiting certain mental intakes helps me to think better thoughts and be a better person.

My junk food of choice happens to be social media, specifically Twitter and Instagram. Mostly Twitter, if we’re going to be honest. So, Twitter is like my Zaxby’s of mental food. It feels good after the first and second bite, but too much and I’m useless. From celebrity news to regular news, my consumption on a daily basis invades my thoughts, subconsciously, and makes me feel full. Full of thoughts that are just illusions of nothingness that don’t contribute to any beneficial nourishment.

So, here I am, now on a mental diet trying to live a better life. Not completely cutting out the mental junk food, but limiting my intake until I have more discipline. I’m working on supplying myself with nourishing mental meals in the forms of books, articles, blogs, marketing information and even my own thoughts (writing). I realized that part of the reason why I wasn’t writing as much as I used to was that I wasn’t giving myself much to work with. I needed the energy, knowledge, and thoughts to even operate on my normal schedule. Therefore, I had to really put myself on a mental diet, no matter how crazy that sounds.

So, how does a mental diet work? Here are some pointers that I’m learning on my journey:

Write down the thoughts that occupy your mind the most during the day as an assessment

Identify the things offer you some sort of nutritional benefit and the things that offer no nutritional value

Point out 3 things you want to learn about for your personal or professional growth

Find multiple resources that you can consume on a daily basis to learn about those 3 things

If social media is an issue for you, update your phone with more useful apps and move the ones you use too much to a less accessible place or take them off of your phone until you can achieve a new normal

Find a happy balance for your mental diet that works for you. Cheat days are completely understandable

Well, good luck! Let me know how this goes for you and I’ll do the same!

Hello, I’m ART!

Hello, I'm Alena! I am a 24-year-old navigating through life always looking for the silver lining. On any given day you can find me binge watching reality tv, taking a million selfies, getting on a flight, dancing alone in the kitchen, trying new restaurants or taking a nap. ART Undone is all about finding beauty in this journey we call life. I hope this blog motivates you, makes you laugh, gives you life or even helps you procrastinate every once in a while. Thanks for taking the time to glance into my studio as I paint my masterpiece!